feint
/feɪnt/
feint noun: a movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
Noun
feint (plural feints)
- A movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
- In October, Friburg had been taken by a Feint of the Duke of Crequi, before the Duke of Lorrain cou'd come to relieve it; […]1683, William Temple, “Memoirs of what Pass’d in Christendom, from the War Begun 1672, to the Peace Concluded 1679. Chapter III.”, in The Works of Sir William Temple, […], volume I, London: […] J....
- Nothing could be more uncertain than the intentions of the French marshal [André Masséna], and Lord Wellington [Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington] felt, that by an incautious movement, his army must be seriously committed—Massena's retreat might only be a feint to draw the allies from their...1840, W[illiam] H[amilton] Maxwell, chapter XIV, in Life of Field-Marshal His Grace the Duke of Wellington, […], volume II, London: A[lfred] H. Baily & Co. […], →OCLC, page 222
- A blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
- He had some advantage in the difference of our weapons; for his sword, as I recollect, was longer than mine, […] His obvious malignity of purpose never for a moment threw him off his guard, and he exhausted every feint and strategem proper to the science of defence; while, at the same time, he...1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst...
- It is also possible to deliver a compound riposte by using an indirect feint. The attacking fencer would be open to a compound riposte following a successful parry by their opponent.1999, Allan Skipp, “Key Techniques”, in Handbook of Foil Fencing, Armley, Leeds: Coachwise Business Solutions for British Fencing, published 2006, →ISBN, page 36
- Something feigned; a false or pretend appearance; a pretence or stratagem.
- [I]f your zeal slackens, how can one help thinking that Mr. Courtly's letter is but a feint to get off from a subject in which either your own, or the private and base ends of others to whom you are partial, or those of whom you are afraid, would not endure a reformation?1712 January 28 (Gregorian calendar), [Philobrune [pseudonym]], “THURSDAY, January 18, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 286; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
- If you had fallen up against him (as some of them did), and stood there; he would have made a feint of endeavouring to seize you, which would have been an affront to your understanding; […]1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Three. The Second of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 111–112
Verb
feint (third-person singular simple present feints, present participle feinting, simple past and past participle feinted)
- To direct (a blow, thrust, or other offensive movement resembling an attack) on some part of the body, intended to distract from a real attack on another part.
- Genevra scowled and said, "His word is wild, / But dastard treason feinteth such disorders: / Treason or witchcraft neither, undefiled, / A Christian court may cherish in its borders."1882, T. Alderson Wilson, “Lanval”, in Perseus and Other Essays in Verse, London: Ranken and Co., […], →OCLC, page 74
- Even Penrod's walk was affected; he adopted a gait which was a kind of taunting swagger; and, when he passed other children on the street, he practised the habit of feinting a blow; then, as the victim dodged, he rasped out the triumphant horse laugh which he gradually mastered to horrible...1914, Booth Tarkington, “The Imitator”, in Penrod, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 231
- To direct a feint or mock attack against (someone).
- Feint him—use your legs! draw him about! he'll lose his wind then in no time, and you can go into him.1857, [Thomas Hughes], “The Fight”, in Tom Brown’s School Days. […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Macmillan & Co., →OCLC, part II, page 323
- To make a feint or mock attack.
- Ben-Hur feinted with his right hand. The stranger warded, slightly advancing his left arm. Ere he could return to guard, Ben-Hur caught him by the wrist in a grip which years at the oar had made terrible as a vise.1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter XVI, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book fifth, page 387
- My assailant stood a little; in the thick darkness I could see him bob and sidle as though he were feinting at me for an advantageous onfall.1893–1897 (date written), Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swanston Cottage”, in St. Ives: Being the Adventures of a French Prisoner in England, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1897...
- Synonyms:
- juke
Adjective (1)
feint (not comparable)
- Of an attack or offensive movement: directed toward a different part from the intended strike.
- Feigned, counterfeit, fake.
- We force ourselves to be hypocrites, and hide our wrongs from them; we speak of a bad father with false praises; we wear feint smiles over our tears and deceive our children—deceive them, do we?1855, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], “Contains Two or Three Acts of a Little Comedy”, in The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume II, London: Bradbury...
Adjective (2)
feint (not comparable)
feint meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
feint in Hindi
- a feint, dodge
- पैंतरा pa͠itrā
feint in Tamil
- ஏமாற்று, ஏமாற்று நடிப்பு
feint in Urdu
- حیلہ, نخرہ
feint in Malayalam
- ruse, bluff, blind
- നാട്യം, ഭോഷ്ക്, വ്യാജപ്രഹരം, കപടവേഷം, പാഴ്വെടി, ഉണ്ടയില്ലാവെടി
More languagesFewer languages
- feint in Kannada
- ನಟನೆ, ಸೋಗು, ವೇಷ, ಅಭಿನಯ
- feint in Sanskrit
- अपदेश apadeśa
Examples of feint in a sentence
- William approached him nearer, and made a feint of accidentally knocking the table with a decanter, to rouse him.1848 December 19, Charles Dickens, “The Gift Bestowed”, in The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-time, London...
- For he never means to swallow a single limb; he only thinks to terrify by feints.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard...
- Toleration was just a feint to achieve the objective of the Catholic mission.2014, Alastair J. Mann, James VII: Duke and King of Scots, Edinburgh: John Donald Publishers, →ISBN:
- By feinting a slash at one I made him throw up his saber to guard his head.1924 October 10, Harold Lamb, “Forward”, in Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor, Adventure, volume XLIX, number I, New York, N.Y.; London: The...
Synonyms of feint
Forms of feint
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | feints |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | feints |
| present participle | feinting |
| past participle | feinted |
| past | feinted |
Origin of feint
The noun is borrowed from French feinte (“dummy, feint”), from feindre (“to fake, feign”), from Old French feindre, faindre, from Latin fingere, the present active infinitive of fingō (“to alter the truth to deceive, dissemble, feign, pretend; to fashion, form, shape”). The verb is derived from the noun. Cognates * English feign, fiction, figment * Italian finta * Occitan fencha, fenha * Old Spanish finta (modern Spanish finta (“dummy, feint”))
Borrowed from French feint, the past participle of feindre (“to fake, feign”): see etymology 1.
A variant of faint (“barely perceptible; not bright, loud, or sharp”).
Words formed from feint
Phrases with feint
Words that rhyme with feint
Questions about feint
- What does feint mean?
- Feint means a movement made to confuse an opponent; a dummy.
- What is feint in Hindi?
- Feint in Hindi is पैंतरा (pa͠itrā). See Feint meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use feint in a sentence?
- William approached him nearer, and made a feint of accidentally knocking the table with a decanter, to rouse him.
- What part of speech is feint?
- Feint can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce feint?
- Feint is pronounced /feɪnt/ (UK).
- What is the plural of feint?
- The plural of feint is feints.
Words near feint in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: feint (page history and authors); पैंतरा (Hindi) (page history and authors); feint (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); feint (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); feint (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); feint (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अपदेश (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “feint.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/feint. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.